Fairy Rescue

by Gwyneth Rees

  ‘It’s beautiful!’ Maddie gasped. ‘Thank you.’

  Poppy, Daisy and Primrose appeared then, each carrying a tiny bottle of sparkly liquid and a thimble-sized acorn cup.

  ‘Try some of this, Maddie,’ Poppy said. ‘It’s called bubbly dew. We make it ourselves and it’s delicious!’ She poured out a drink for Maddie and it was delicious – sort of sweet and fizzy and not at all like any other drink Maddie had ever tasted.

  ‘Oh, I almost forgot. I’ve brought a box of chocolates with me,’ Maddie said, taking them out of her bag. At the same time she took out her sparkly shoes. ‘You couldn’t shrink me again like you did yesterday, could you, Poppy?’ she asked hopefully. ‘Then I’d be the right size for your party.’

  ‘Oh no!’ Poppy exclaimed. ‘We’re not allowed to shrink children unless there’s a very good reason.’ She waited for Maddie to put on her party shoes, then added, ‘And we absolutely never shrink chocolates.’

  As the chocolate box was opened, Maddie found herself surrounded by fairies of all kinds, all eager to have a bite out of one of the sweets. There was a little bit of pushing and shoving, but no real arguing and all the fairies seemed to be willing to share with each other.

  ‘Queen Flora says this is the first time there’s ever been a fairy party where so many different kinds of fairies have all mixed together,’ Poppy said. ‘We never usually get on as well as this. I guess being kidnapped has brought us all much closer.’ She waved to Opal and Emerald who were dancing nearby with some tooth fairies and dream fairies. ‘Shall we dance too?’

  ‘I think I’m too big to dance with you, aren’t I?’ Maddie said.

  ‘Not if you dance at the edge and watch where you put your feet,’ Poppy replied.

  So they went to dance with the others and Maddie took great care not to tread on any fairies. They were soon joined by a group of rabbits who were also keen to dance, thumping their hind-feet very vigorously against the ground in time to the music. Milo normally liked to chase rabbits, but tonight he seemed to just want to dance with them. Soon he was wagging his tail and thumping his back paws along with his new friends.

  ‘This is the strangest party I’ve ever been to!’ Maddie said, laughing.

  ‘It’s the strangest one I’ve ever been to too!’ Poppy told her. ‘Fairies don’t usually invite humans to their parties, you see.’

  All the other fairies agreed that having a human at their party was very strange indeed – but that it was so much fun that they really must do it more often.

  ‘You could invite Horace Hatter next,’ Maddie suggested. ‘I’m sure he doesn’t get invited to very many parties.’

  So Poppy said that she would ask Horace to the next fairy party they held in the woods. ‘I wonder if he’ll bring any chocolate with him,’ she added, licking her lips.

  And Maddie laughed and promised to remind him.